The Search
by theBrillianceofNight
Summary: It starts with a robbery, a fake name, a pair of gloves. The wind howls, the moon glows, and a snake slithers along. Then come the smell of gunpowder, a race against time, and paths that lead to nowhere. AU.
1. Prologue

-Prologue-

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><p>The pale full moon shone down on the streets of Konoha while the chilly September night wind swept through the city. The only sounds on the silent street were the wind whistling through trees, the muffled protests of a large crowd in nearby Hotaru Park being shooed away by park officials from the now over 'Friday the 13th' concert, and the shuffling of feet along the road. The street was deserted but for a solitary man, hunched over and walking slowly down the sidewalk, dragging his feet along.<p>

Within the boundaries of the park, the crowd broke up into groups and dispersed. Some walked in towards the center fountains, while others wandered off to the beautiful Sakura Avenue. A particularly large pack of people pushed its way down the street, engulfing the once solitary man in a horde of many other bodies. The crowd meandered down the street quite quietly and rather aimlessly until alarms and ringing bells shattered the near silence. The Shattered Glass jewelry store had been robbed.


	2. Chapter 1

-Chapter 1-

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><p>The next morning found the street close to empty. Bright yellow CAUTION ribbon boundaries had been set surrounding the store in a wide perimeter. The storekeepers, a Subaku Kankurou and his sister Temari, were there looking exhausted and upset.<p>

The Subakus were staring in horror at the shattered glass window at the store's front and all of the matching smashed glass display cases inside the store, still unable to comprehend the disastrous thing that had come upon them. Subaku Temari finally found her voice, and cursed loudly. "If _this_ isn't fucking ironic, I don't know what _is_—"

Subaku Kankurou responded by kicking at glass. His sister was still in shock and in no condition to reprimand her brother, who stopped after a severe glance from a fierce-looking police officer.

The chief policeman, 'Herman' as his nametag read, started to address the storekeeper. "Excuse me-"

Subaku Temari paused in her cursing and responded, "Subaku. Subaku Temari."

"Well, Subaku-san—"

"Call me Temari. Subaku-san was my father."

Herman nodded. "Well, it seems that your store here, Shattered Glass, has been robbed."

Temari snorted and rolled her eyes. "_Seems_ like it, huh?"

Herman smiled self-deprecatingly. "That's what they suggest in the handbook," he winked. "First matter of business, though, do you have insurance?"

Subaku Kankurou stepped in with a nod and a grunted, "Kankurou," handing Herman the slips of paper he had been tightly clutching.

"Okay, glad to see that you were prepared, Kankurou-san. Now, where is your place of residence?" Herman inquired, getting out his notepad and a pen.

"The floor above the shop," Kankurou answered.

"No suspicious noises?"

Temari broke in with a wry chuckle. "It's _Konoha_. When _aren't_ there suspicious noises?"

After they went through the standard questions, Herman handed them a 10-dollar bill to get some coffee. Once they were seated and sipping their cups of coffee in a nearby café, a latté for Kankurou and a normal cup of dark coffee for Temari, they realized that neither of them had seen their younger brother Gaara since the evening before when they bid him goodnight.

Temari walked to Herman, sipping at her coffee. "My youngest brother isn't here."

Herman, surprised, asked, "You have another brother? What is his name? How old is he? Can I have a description or a picture of him?"

Temari handed over a wallet-sized picture, taking another sip of coffee.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Herman asked succinctly.

"Last night, he was still working in the shop when Kankurou went to bed. He works as an assistant in our store, and usually stays down there late at least once a week."

Herman hummed, thinking. "What is your usual closing time?"

"We close around 8:30, but he stays down there until past midnight whenever he does."

"Do you have any idea what he does when he stays late?"

Temari shrugged. "Not my business. It's probably more productive than trying to sleep, anyway." At Herman's confused expression, she added, "Gaara's an insomniac."

Herman nodded, looking up as Kankurou approached, holding his latté. He slowed to a stop and stooped to look at a gray piece of cloth on the ground. Still squatting, he beckoned to Herman and said, "This jewelry pouch came from our store. Your blue boys might want to collect it as evidence."

Herman considered the small pouch, waving over one of the detectives and standing up.

"The investigative team will take care of that," he explained.

"Fingerprint analysis for sure, and the material soaks up oils very well, that's why we use it. Might want to suggest a DNA scan as well," Kankurou said.

Herman blinked. "You seem to have a pretty extensive knowledge of how this routine goes."

"Too many late-night crime shows." Then he smiled crookedly, really focusing in on Herman's face. "You seem kinda familiar, yeah?"

Herman shook his head amiably. "Don't think so. The last time I was in a jewelry store was for my mother's birthday a few years ago."

Kankurou shrugged. "It's probably a good thing that you don't recall my face." He grinned toothily. "There's a reason why your friend over there has been keeping an eye on me."

"I see," Herman said as he scribbled down some notes on the crime scene. "Now, more about your brother," he prompted, leveling a glare at someone behind Kankurou, leading him back inside the coffee shop with eyes still focused on the mystery individual.


	3. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

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><p>The strange pink-haired female smiled, but water leaked from her eyes.<p>

"Herman, huh?" the female said, wiping away the moisture. The female had a strange smell to her, like flowers.

Flowers. He would remember that smell, he decided, as the female went away with gloved hands and a hat on her head.

Then came a bad smell and a tall male. A bad smell like snakes, a male pale like death. He recognized that smell. A smell of blood, of metal and gunpowder.

"Interesting," the male said. Then the male peered into the shadows.

"Well, what do we have here?" the male asked. He remembered those eyes. Those glinting yellow eyes. He smiled, reaching for the power. The male backed away slowly.

"I'll see you soon," the male said, retreating. "They always come back."

The male scowled. He smirked.

"Until next time," the male said, tipping his hat. "Until next time, Scarlet."

Scarlet took a step forward and the male bolted.

Scarlet growled to himself.

_Too close._


	4. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

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><p>Herman sighed, slinging his hat and jacket into his locker at the station. The day's investigation had been particularly stressful, between a jewelry store owner who claimed to recognize him, the too-calm older sister of said jewelry store owner, Sai making lewd gestures throughout the whole examination and interrogation process, and a band of juvenile delinquents who decided to run around in Speedos and cause calls of indecency and one call for said delinquents to be executed.<p>

_God_, he missed the days when he was one of those juvenile delinquents. But that was then, and now, he had no time to waste reminiscing. Off came the heavy boots and blue uniform trousers, and on came the faded cargos and the canvas sneakers. Running his fingers through his hair in a habitual act of weariness, he exited the locker room and weaved through the cubicles to the front desk by the double door entrance.

"Hey Sherman," his deskmate called.

"Dammit, Kiba, for the last time, it's _Herman_."

"Sherman, German, it's all the same," Kiba replied, leaning back in his desk chair.

"Maybe in your dog-brain," the slim blonde secretary scoffed. "How else would you mix up a name and a nationality?"

"How do you know I wasn't referring to a _language_, Ino?" Kiba retorted. "Anyway, maybe some of us are more concerned about the _important_ things than others." He looked pointedly at Ino's vibrating cellphone.

"Dammit, it's my fiancé. I gotta take this call," Ino scowled, checking the caller ID. Her tone and facial expression changed abruptly as she answered the phone. "Hey sweetie, how are you doing?"

"Women." Kiba rolled his eyes. "But seriously, Naruto, why go by a fake name?"

Naruto shrugged, pulling off the nametag that read "Herman" and placing it next to the desk nameplate that said "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Some of the kids recognize me by that name but otherwise won't look past the nametag and the ID," Naruto explained. "Anyway, Kiba, do we have any new leads?"

Kiba nodded, fishing out a manila folder from the stacks on his side of the desk. "Some kid claimed he saw a red-headed burglar, turned out it was one of his older brother's friends playing a prank. An old lady said she was looking for her cat and then she spotted a beautiful woman in a long jacket with long, straight black hair, but it was such a shame she had such a masculine voice."

"Looks like a female, sounds like a male—that could be any hippie and their chain-smoking mother," Naruto retorted.

"Yeah, but pale, slim, long black hair, tall, and with some speech impediment that made him hiss like her cat? I think this could really be a legitimate lead!" Kiba insisted.

"Oh, and Naruto—"

"Not now, Ino, I'm trying to explain to the mutt that just because an old lady saw some transvestite, the world isn't going to end."

"Are you brushing me off for work?" the secretary exclaimed, feigning hurt. "After all these years of 'Ino write this paper for me' and 'Ino distract me so I can't do that project' and now you're ignoring me for _work!_"

"Put a sock in it, Yamanaka," Kiba grunted. "Your voice is giving me a headache."

"Just shut up, both of you," Naruto groaned.

"Kiba is right, for once," Ino said, tone serious. "There aren't many who can fit that description. I think you need a break, clear your mind. You're becoming really cynical."

"Until I reach Shikamaru level, I haven't hit rock bottom," Naruto responded, ignoring Ino's shout at the perceived slight to her fiancé's character.

"I think you've gone past _Sai_ level," Kiba commented.

Naruto grimaced. "Whatever. Is there anything life-shatteringly important I need to know or can I leave already and sleep?"

Ino sobered up immediately. "Yes, actually, there was one person who came in asking for Herman. She—"

"Ino, you know I'm not interested in anyone at the moment, especially some random girl," Naruto muttered, walking slowly toward the exit. "Is there anything with actual significance?" he called, not turning around.

"She was wearing a trench coat and a hat," Ino continued stolidly.

"Great. A prostitute, then."

"And there was _pink_ under that hat." Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. "She said she knew 'Whirlwind' would need help tracking down 'Princess' and 'Bark'. _Now_ does it sound important?"

"_Fuck_," Naruto breathed. "_Now_ of all times?"

"You need to go. Get all your stuff, she said she'd be at the corner of Kaze and Aka," Ino instructed. Naruto bolted for the locker room and soon returned with a backpack and his coat. "Kiba and I will cover for you."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked in surprise and concern.

"Yeah man, we know how important this is for you. Now hurry up and get a move on. Duty is calling, Herman," Kiba grinned, tossing a long and slim package at his friend. "Think of this as an early birthday present and don't open it until you're with the girl."

"Thanks, guys," Naruto said sincerely. Then he turned and quickly strode out the double doors.

"God, I hope he finds them," Ino said.

"Me too, Ino, me too," Kiba agreed, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they stared at the doors, hoping beyond all hope that their friend would succeed.


End file.
